The principality of Monaco is an imbecilic location for a motorcycle ride. After all, the independent microstate on the French Riviera isn’t even twice as big as the Dodger Stadium grounds, and its teeny little streets are crammed almost solid with a cornucopia of vehicles from two-stroke scooters to the apparently riotously amusing Renault Twizys to exotic McLarens to horrifyingly huge Rollers.

Then again, if the stats are true and 30% of its population are millionaires, I suppose many people in this odd little place wouldn’t be frightened by paying around $15,000 for an expensive Italian toy like Ducati’s freshly revamped Monster 1200. Enticed by power and style and the magical mountain roads just a few miles away from the coast, an intrepid Monacoian might think the biggest Monster would make a perfect fit parked in the garage next to a Ferrari.

Ducati’s iconic Monster line, which launched in 1993 and went on to earn lucrative profits for the financially flimsy Italian company at the time, finds itself in a dichotomous spot during its successful modern era. At its bottom end is the new 797 Monster, which harkens back to the original air-cooled Monsters with a punch rated at a modest 75 horsepower. At the upper end are the liquid-cooled 1200 Monsters, which are the most powerful unfaired sportbikes Ducati produces.

Ah, here’s why owning a sportbike in Monaco makes sense! Just a 30-minute ride up the hill from Monte Carlo.

The 1200 debuted in 2014, and it’s being upgraded just three years later with tweaked styling that better mimics the original. A reshaped fuel tank and slimmer tailsection deliver an attractive makeover, and a bright new headlight leads the way. Oh, and the Monster 12 makes a more compelling proposition when some extra power, greater agility, and Bosch’s excellent Cornering ABS is tossed into the mix for 2017.

The Monster has a slimmer butt for 2017, along with new Euro-4-approved mufflers and a redesigned headlight. The new tank reduces fuel capacity by 1 liter to 4.4 gallons. Note the area ahead of the fuel cap that now features a ski-boot-type buckle — a classy retro touch for those who remember a similar latch on the original Monsters and period 900SSs. The removable seat cowl is standard equipment.

The cockpit is familiar but updated with the addition of a prominent gear-position indicator and fuel gauge added to its vivid color TFT gauge pack, strange omissions in the previous version. As before, a tapered aluminum handlebar places a rider in a slightly forward lean for a sporty stance and strong leverage. The seat is adjustable for height (31.3 to 32.3 inches) and is nicely supportive. Quality hand levers are adjustable over a wide sweep.

The last Monster 1200 had many admirable qualities, but it was cursed with footpegs that didn’t provide enough room for a rider to place feet in a proper sporting position near the toes. It was an infuriating critique for a Ducati, considering the brand’s rich sporting heritage. Hitting the recycle bin are the former aluminum castings that joined passenger and pilot pegs in one piece, now replaced by separate peg mounts and alleviating our biggest gripe with the previous big Monster. Whiney size 13ers may still wish for more room when sport riding, but there is now a Bentley’s worth of extra space for the heels of men packing significant feet.

The Liquid Concrete Grey color identifies a Monster 1200S, as does the carbon front fender, Öhlins suspension and red-accented wheels. It retails for $17,195, while a red S comes in at $200 cheaper. The base model, at $14,695 and only in red, uses a Kayaba fork and Sachs shock that will reveal its rider as coming from the poor side of Monte Carlo.

There are a couple of ergonomic quibbles for legs. The rubber-covered footpegs can be a mite slippery when wet, and the footpegs are mounted high enough to avoid any ground clearance issues, but their location also forces a tighter knee bend than something like KTM’s expansive Super Duke.

The previous 1200 Monsters were given different power outputs, with the S model rewarded with 10 bonus ponies at 145 horsepower. Now, with new cylinder heads and ECU tuning, both are claimed to deliver 150 metric hp (148 hp in our imperial measure) while meeting Euro 4 regs. We’ll expect about 136 horses at the rear wheel based on our dyno testing of the 2016 Monster in this shootout.

This is the Monster 1200’s best side, with exhaust pipes bending like pythons and a forever-sexy exposed rear wheel via the use of a single-sided swingarm. Wheelbase is now shorter by an inch, which seems to have livened up the 1200’s handling a smidge while still delivering exceedingly neutral steering.

The motor is amazingly friendly for a mill that punches so hard at wide-open throttle, responding cleanly even from below 3000 rpm and building through a thrusting midrange to an I-dare-ya peak at 9250 rpm. Helping make the most of its power is Ducati’s quickshifter system that allows full-throttle upshifts. The S model also allows clutchless downshifts by automatically blipping the throttle to match engine revs with wheel speeds, a system optional on the base model

The S also distinguishes itself with Öhlins suspension that worked flawlessly on the mountain roads in and around Monaco where we sampled the bike. The S also receives Brembo’s superlative M50 brake calipers instead of the merely excellent M432s, as well as 330mm rotors instead of 320s. Additionally, the S uses a different set of wheels with red markings, although they aren’t of the lighter-weight forged variety. You’ll have to upgrade to the 160-hp Monster 1200R for that, which ramps up the MSRP past the $19k mark.

Brembo M50 calipers have never failed to impress us, and that holds true with the setup in the 1200S. Ducati was smart to fit them with less-toothy pads than in its Panigale brother, which provided a wide latitude of pressure to confidently judge precise braking even during changeable road conditions. Stellar kit.

The steep mountain roads in southern France gave the Monster’s electronics suite a thorough workout over switchbacks and shady sections at altitude that were wet and potentially icy. I began the ride in Touring mode, which delivers a friendly array of settings for throttle response, traction control, ABS and wheelie control. Stepping up to Sport mode backs down the intervention and allows behavior more appropriate of the bike’s name. Ducati deserves kudos for allowing customization of each parameter independent of ride modes. As such, a rider can exactly dial in the control desired. For me in Sport mode, I reduced TC from 3 to 2 and switched off wheelie control to attain personal electronic bliss.

The TFT instrumentation is crisp and remained clear during our sunlit ride. Seen here is the display in Sport mode. The Touring and Urban modes have their own arrangements of info. Navigating the menus via pleasing switchgear is only frustrating the first time through them.

New for 2017 is the addition of Cornering ABS to the Bosch electronics suite, which uses an Intertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to monitor multiple axes of movement. The mountain roads we sampled were often wet in shady areas, and it was comforting to have the security of knowing we could use the brakes aggressively in corners if conditions required it, as the system can briefly release brake pressure if traction is reduced while leaned over in corners. ABS is customizable to three settings, including one that switches off rear ABS for hooligan-style corner entries if desired.

Motoring machines, even pricey ones, are never flawless, but my day aboard the Monster 1200S gave me so little negative to consider. Power output is way beyond adequate, brakes and electronics are as good as they get, and it now cuts a more dashing profile.

Strafing a twisty mountain road on a Monster 1200S nears the verge of motoring perfection.

However, here in Monaco, I imagined I’d identify myself as a plebe if I didn’t whinge a little. I mean, surely Prince Albert would bitch if his Bugatti Chiron didn’t shift as smoothly as his Pagani Huayra.

Similarly, Monster’s gearbox could use a dose of slickness. It’s not that it swaps cogs harshly, it’s just that it requires more effort than the trannies in most modern motorbikes. I’ll also note the quickshift system borrowed from the Panigale doesn’t always deliver shifts as smooth as from an expert clutch hand, depending on the thousands of different parameters experienced during the variety of street speeds and environments. Not at all bad; just not perfect. It functions best at full rip, preferably on a racetrack.

The busy left side of the Monster 12 makes us pine for the uncluttered look of the air-cooled original Monsters. A large pair of rubber coolant hoses, radiator and a smattering of plastic covers detract from the Ducati’s style. The liquid-cooled price of performance progress.

There, now get your sandy feet off my yacht! I’m sailing over to my Ducati dealer to negotiate a set of forged Marchesinis for my Monster.

We use cookies to improve your experience on this website and so that ads you see online can be tailored to your online browsing interests.
We use data about you for a number of purposes explained in the links below. By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of data and cookies.
Tell me more |
Cookie Preferences

We use cookies to improve your experience on this website and so that ads you see online can be tailored to your online browsing interests. We use data about you for a number of purposes explained in the links below. By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of data and cookies.Tell me more | Cookie Preferences